"Cruise to the Value Islands"--YW New Beginnings

I've mentioned before how I work with the Young Women in my ward at church, as the Personal Progress Leader.  The Young Women program has two big events each year in regards to Personal Progress.  "New Beginnings" starts out the year, with an invitation included to all the girls who will be turning 12 in that calendar year (and therefore joining YW).  That event teaches about what Personal Progress is, and attempts to get girls excited for it again.. Near the end of the year is "Young Women in Excellence," where the girls showcase and share their talents and what projects they've accomplished through the year.

A couple weeks ago was my ward's New Beginnings.  The theme for the night was "Cruise to the Value Islands," based on the 2015 Mutual theme: "Oh ye that embark in the service of God; see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength; that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."  (Value Islands refers to the 8 YW values--Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice & Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, & Virtue..)

While I was completely in charge of YW in Excellence, for this event I was luckily just assigned a role--the Value Islands.  I was to ask 8 girls to teach/share about each island.

The night was a success!  The lady in charge of decorations did amazing and it was very festive.  The lady in charge of food made everything so delicious and themed.  The main program was my value islands, and the girls rocked it!  It can be tricky working with the youth.  They can be flaky and not follow through when they say they will.  But every girl showed up well prepared and it was such a treat to listen to them.

I set up 8 tables, each representing a different island.  After the guest speaker, I invited the cruise members to go off and explore and learn about all of the islands.  I had one "committee member" to help me (one of the Mia Maids.)  We were told to make sure to let our committee members help, so I asked if she'd like to make flags for our islands.  I named each island, so I asked if she'd have the name, the value color, and then I thought the flags could be attached to a "pole" and then placed in some kind of jar.  She did so awesome, and they turned out even better than I hoped!

I wanted each value island to have some physical objects displayed that represented that value, and an object that connected to the value in a tropical-themed way.

Each island had flowers (cut from a silk lei) in its value color, and a piece of paper with a matching value-colored tropical flower that gave the name of the value, and the scripture reference and value quote.

I provided each of the 8 "Value Island Crew Members" a flower lei in their value color.  I also made tags for each of them to wear, with a cruise ship that said "Knowledge Crew Member" (or whatever their value was).

Port Faith--Spiritual symbol: Statue of Jesus praying; Island Symbol: Pair of flip-flops (for "faith in every footstep")

Divine Nature Marina--Spiritual symbol--Crown (daughter of a King); Island Symbol--Lifesaver (Remembering your royal heritage and destiny helps buoy you up)

Isle of Individual Worth--Spiritual symbol--Treasure Chest (You are worth more than gold);
Island Symbol--Seashells (each one is unique)

Knowledge Harbor--Spiritual symbol--Stack of books with graduation cap (Gain all the education you can); Island Symbol--Map & Compass

Choice & Accountability Wharf--Spiritual Symbol--Scale weighing scriptures vs. watch (time); Island Symbol--Sunscreen (Making good choices protects you from harm, just as sunscreen protects your skin from sun damage)

Good Works Haven--Spiritual Symbol--a "Love" sign; Island Symbol--Starfish (taken from the story of the "Young Man and the Starfish," which teaches that even serving one person makes a difference.

Integrity Coast--Spiritual Symbol--"For the Strength of Youth" and Personal Progress books;
Island Symbol--Anchor (Following your morals keeps you anchored)

Shore of Virtue--Spiritual Symbol--Temple; Island Symbol--Lighthouse (a representation of the temple, leading you back to God)

Each girl was told to prepare about 3 minutes on their value.  The cruise members came to their table sporadically, so they all gave their little spiel about 5 times each.  I wrote out a few beginning lines for each girl to say--welcoming the guests to the island, and then a short description of how the table props connect.  Here's one example:

“Welcome to the Shore of Virtue!  At this stop on your journey you will learn how leading a virtuous life prepares you for the temple.  We have a lighthouse on this shore, as it leads the ships to safety, just as the temple is our ‘light of safety’, too.”

The rest of the speeches/testimonies were for each girl to come up with on her own.  Some of them wrote down  their thoughts, some went off the cuff, but each one was very well done, and I was so proud of them all!

Such a fun night!  I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to work in the Young Women program.